“Yeah?” He sounded dubious. “Hey, did you have that interview?”
“Oh yeah. It, um, didn’t work out. They went with someone else.”
Probably because she’d bombed the interview. Which she should’ve expected after walking into that office just a few days after leaving Seattle. She’d been so tired, distracted, and found herself fighting back tears more than once during the process.
“Damn, kid. Sorry to hear that.”
The tears that seemed to prick more often threatened again. She blinked rapidly. “There’ll be other interviews.”
“Yeah? That’s actually why I’m calling.” James paused. “Mom’s itching for you to move back to Washington and has been stalking the online job postings.”
Her breath caught, and something light and warm gathered inside her.
The idea of moving home had been flittering around in her mind more often. Most of her good friends around here had moved home or taken jobs elsewhere after graduation.
There would be obstacles to overcome—the cost of living and avoiding Blake completely being two—but the upsides seemed to be outweighing the bad.
Seattle was her true home. She had friends and family there. Trees, mountains, and large bodies of water. And she hadn’t realized how much she missed it all until she’d visited last week.
“Has she? Maybe I’ll glance at some listings. That doesn’t mean I’m promising to come back.”
“Understood.” Still there was a note of surprise and pleasure in her brother’s voice. “So, do you ever hear from him? Blake?”
Her stomach sank. “No. Why would I?”
“He seemed to really like you.”
And there went her heart clenching again.
If he liked her, he would’ve come after her. Called her. Anything. But it’d been radio silence.
Besides, there was liking someone and then there was just wanting to fuck someone. She was pretty certain where she fell with Blake. Not like she was going to spell that out to her brother, though.
“I don’t think so.” It was hard to keep the pain out of her voice. “Everyone knows he’s not really the relationship type anyway, right?”
“I got the feeling he was willing to try with you.”
“Please, let it go.” Damn it, her voice had wobbled.
“Are you crying?”
“No, of course not.” Or maybe she was. She brushed away a tear from the corner of her eye. “Enough about me, how are you and Hannah?”
“Still broken up.”
Shock momentarily robbed her of her own sadness. “What? When did this happen?”
“You don’t know?” James seemed dumbfounded. “Tori didn’t…? Never mind.”
“What does Tori have to do with this?”
“I, um, actually need to head to bed.” His tone changed, became more clipped. “Class in the morning.”
“James.”
But he’d ended the call.
Just as quickly, she dialed Tori.